All Smiles

Last week I received an e-mail from a friend, colleague, and (new) Ben's Produce customer, Sarah. So many of you have shown us so many kindnesses and I thought I'd share this one with all of you. We are truly blessed to have so many beautiful people in our lives. We are so very grateful!

With Sarah's permission, here's her e-mail:
I want to let you know that I had a sort of transformative experience last night with the delicious produce I got from you and Ben. I just made a simple salad with lettuce mix, carrots, radishes and an onion I already had. It was fabulous. While I was tearing the lettuce I just felt different about it. I was more aware that this came to me from PEOPLE's WORK and even the way the bags were tied reminded me of this. At the grocery store where there are product labels and manufactured tags and bags, etc. it is easy to forget the labor that goes into getting that stuff in mass quantity so that consumers can be choosy. It is too easy to forget the farmers and the laborers, even for me who's sensitive to that sort of thing.  I almost felt like I was working with a gift someone gave me and I found myself appreciating the farming process a lot more. It was weird, and cool.  I'm so glad I took the plunge and I'll be ordering more stuff from you regularly. Please pass this on to Ben, and I thank you both for all your hard work! :)
______________________________________________________________________________

 Aw shucks! Thank you Sarah. And...

Patricia & Ben

Opening Day - Western Wake Farmer's Market

Hey y'all,

We're preparing for our first farmers market next Saturday, April 3rd. We'll be at the Western Wake Farmer's Market in Cary, NC. The market opens at 8 am and ends at noon. There will also be bakers, fish, meat, cheese, eggs, crafted farm products, musical entertainment, a chef's demonstration, an educational tent and face painting. It's all located at 1225 Morrisville Carpenter Rd, Cary, NC. between Davis Drive and Hwy. 55. Get directions here... We are very excited and looking forward to meeting new and old friends. Our table will have lettuce, mesclun, arugula, tatsoi, radishes, baby turnips, broccoli rabe and green onions plus some other possibilities. Come see us there!


We're still going strong and working every day to stay on top of things. Patricia is busy with school and teaching. Just today, I planted our second succession of peas and carrots and seeded cucumbers, summer squash and melons for transplant. We have flowers growing, the potatoes have started to peek above the ground and the cabbage and broccoli are taking off like gang busters! The strawberries have started to flower and the plants are growing larger. The tomatoes, peppers and eggplant have had their first transplant to a larger "container" ( actually into soil blocks, which are container-less pots of soil) and are happily growing in our greenhouse. I put up pea trellis yesterday because they are about 6 to 8 inches tall and ready to climb.

This coming Tuesday, March 30th, we plan to have produce pickup at our house, 604 Sasser St., between 4:00 to 7:30 pm. The next NCSU delivery will be Wednesday, March 31th. Remember to have your orders placed by Monday evening.

A few of you occasionally may have trouble placing orders. Please make sure you receive an automated confirmation email a few minutes after you place your order. If you do not receive this email your order was not placed and we will not receive it. Please try again or email us your order to shields.ben@gmail.com or call Ben @ 919-800-8898. Also, we do not accept online payments, e.g. PayPal. We only accept payment of cash or checks at pickup.

Purchase of vegetables is made through our online store-
www.vendio.com/stores/bensproduce.

Current vegetable availability includes:
Arugula
Easter Egg Radish
Carrots
Mizuna
Lettuce
Mesclun Lettuce
Scallions
Sweet potatoes
Tatsoi


OUT THINKING IN THE FIELD, by Ben

Spring time is the winter thaw that fills the river of life with rushing water, bubbling and swirling to the sea. Farming is like jumping in that river for a good swim though not quite as cold. Fight the current and you'll wear yourself out, possibly to your detriment. Ride the current with wisdom, skills and knowledge and it's a beautiful day on the river. The swell will subside in a while when summer gets hotter and the river calms some.  I'm trying to ride that current though I'll admit it's not easy and is full of hazards. Well, this may be somewhat of a northern analogy because rivers don't freeze here and rise with snow melt but I think it works...



Be good and eat well,
Ben & Patricia

Hello Pigeon Roost, Hello Spring!

Hello All,

We have returned from visiting Patricia's parents in Middle Tennessee this past weekend. They purchased 25 acres of land this winter and we went to see it and camp out on it. Most of it is woods but some is suitable to farming someday. There is a creek, a duck pond with not only ducks but also geese, swans, chickens, a rhea (a large flightless bird native to South America) and a flock of wild peacocks!

I worked like a dog before we went to TN to get stuff in the ground and now its back to working like a dog again. Springtime is a time of immense work. Whatever needs to be done needed to be done yesterday. The BIG PUSH to get everything up and growing occurs between March and the end of May generally and then it slows down slightly until August when we start the fall/winter season planting. Anyhow, we're glad to be back in NC and on the farm.


For all you CSA members and those interested, we will start CSA pickup in late April. We will let you know a week ahead of the first pick up. Please sign up for the 5 Points CSA Yahoo Group here for information on the other farms who are attending. There will be naturally raised chicken, beef, eggs and honey available and possibly raw milk.

This coming Tuesday, March 23rd, we plan to have produce pickup at our house, 604 Sasser St., between 4:00 to 7:30 pm. The next NCSU delivery will be Wednesday, March 24th. Remember to have your orders placed by Monday evening.

A few of you occasionally may have trouble placing orders. Please make sure you receive an automated confirmation email a few minutes after you place your order. If you do not receive this email your order was not placed and we will not receive it. Please try again or email us your order to shields.ben@gmail.com or call Ben @ 919-800-8898. Also, we do not accept online payments, e.g. PayPal. We only accept payment of cash or checks at pickup.

Purchase of vegetables is made through our online store-
www.vendio.com/stores/bensproduce.


Newly available vegetables:
Easter Egg Radish
Tatsoi
Arugula
Mizuna
Lettuce Mesclun
Mixed Mesclun (all the above except radish)

Current vegetable availability includes:
baby beets
brussels sprouts
carrots
collards
scallions
lettuce
spinach
sweet potatoes


Late winter /early spring vegetables will include:
broccoli raab
swiss chard
turnips

Photo descriptions from Patricia:

Ben and I helping my dad post signs in the woods

Haha. Dad and Ben. Ben's leanin with the tree.

Ah - more lovely blue skies.

Charlie Parker roaming the woods. He ran non-stop - poor guy is a farm dog living in the city.

Check out the slant behind me. This "little" valley is one heck of a climb.

Charlie and I checking out the creek. He's on a leash here because there were other dogs around, but once he was off the leash, he jumped right in fetching sticks.

Well, that's it for now. We had a great time in TN, but we're happy to be back home in Raleigh (well, except for maybe Charlie). Thanks for stopping by.

Blue Skies

Spring is surely here and ol' man winter has gone away! Sure, we may get a few more frosty nights but spring is here. Daffodils and flowering trees are blooming, the cover crops are shooting up and the earth is coming to life! Spiders and bees are out too...as are the weeds.Our first crops in the greenhouse are ready to harvest. We have new arugula, tatsoi, mizuna, lettuce and radishes. Look for them on our store. Coming soon are broccoli rabe and turnips.

Sign up for our CSA if you haven't yet...thank you if you have! See our CSA through our links on the right and down some.

Patricia and I spent the afternoon working. We went to the greenhouse to check on our plants and bring seedlings to the farm. Here's some of our afternoon...

Us...

me and our first spring radish...

chard, lettuce and broccoli seedlings in soil blocks...

the house...

Patricia peeking through rosemary...

strawberry flowers growing into strawberries...

Seen here, common vetch (the plant) and mycorrhiza (white nodes on the tiny roots), symbiotically related. Vetch supplies nutrients to the mycorrhizae which fixes nitrogen from atmospheric nitrogen which in turn is released into the soil when the plant dies and decomposes. A positive feedback cycle...

Lettuce mesclun growing in the greenhouse...

Scallion seedlings crowned with their dyed seed hulls...

preparing a bed for radishes, turnips and flowers...

Blue skies...

Winter harvest is nearly done and the spring harvest is starting to roll in...We'll have carrots for another week or two and that will be it until May. No more Chinese cabbage, vitamin green, collards and brussels sprouts. See our store for availability.

This coming Tuesday, March 16th, we plan to have produce pickup at our house, 604 Sasser St., between 4:00 to 7:30 pm. No NCSU delivery this week, spring break. Remember to have your orders placed by Monday evening.

A few of you occasionally may have trouble placing orders. Please make sure you receive an automated confirmation email a few minutes after you place your order. If you do not receive this email your order was not placed and we will not receive it. Please try again or email us your order to shields.ben@gmail.com or call Ben @ 919-800-8898. Also, we do not accept online payments, e.g. PayPal. We only accept payment of cash or checks at pickup.

Purchase of vegetables is made through our online store-
www.vendio.com/stores/bensproduce.


Newly available vegetables:
Easter Egg Radish
Tatsoi
Arugula
Mizuna
Lettuce Mesclun
Mixed Mesclun (all the above except radish)

Current vegetable availability includes:
baby beets
brussels sprouts
carrots
collards
scallions
lettuce
spinach
sweet potatoes


Late winter /early spring vegetables will include:
broccoli raab
lettuce
swiss chard
turnips

Be good and eat well,
Ben & Patricia

Spring planting time is upon us...

Hello all,

The season is shifting into a higher gear! Patricia and I took our dog Charlie to the farm today to plant potatoes and spring onions. What a beautiful spring day it was today. The sun was out, it was warm and blue birds were fluttering about and looking for grubs to eat in the freshly tilled soil. I felt the swell of spring and the upward energy that spring brings...Always inspiring and full of hope of the coming growing season. Here are some photos of our day on the farm today...Enjoy!

My car full of cut seed potatoes.

Marking a bed for potatoes with markers on a rake.

  

Patricia & Ben, happy together in the sun...

  

 Freshly transplanted beets. Can you find Ben in the photo?

  

Patrica's lucky 30 year old German sneakers - they have a long history of wear and tear but still going strong!

and Ben's bare feet...

 Baby leeks waiting to be planted

  

Ben holding up a row cover (veggie blanket)...

We on the front page of the Western Wake Farmers Market website this week! We're famous! 

We're ramping down the winter harvest now. We harvested all the winter carrots Friday and they are in storage. This is most likely the last week we will have collards, brussels sprouts, chinese cabbage and vitamin green. Carrots will be available for a couple more weeks and won't be available again until May. We will have fewer crops available until the spring crops start rolling in, so expect less variety for the next 4 weeks or so.  We will certainly keep y'all updated on what's available.

This coming Tuesday, March 9th, we plan to have produce pickup at our house, 604 Sasser St., between 4:00 to 7:30 pm. The next NCSU delivery will be Wednesday, March 10th. Remember to have your orders placed by Monday evening.

A few of you occasionally may have trouble placing orders. Please make sure you receive an automated confirmation email a few minutes after you place your order. If you do not receive this email your order was not placed and we will not receive it. Please try again or email us your order to shields.ben@gmail.com or call Ben @ 919-800-8898. Also, we do not accept online payments, e.g. PayPal. We only accept payment of cash or checks at pickup.

Purchase of vegetables is made through our online store-
www.vendio.com/stores/bensproduce.


Available new vegetables:
SPINACH

Current vegetable availability includes:
baby beets
brussels sprouts
carrots
Chinese cabbage
collards
scallions
lettuce
sweet potatoes
Vitamin Green (a mild Asian leafy green)


Late winter /early spring vegetables will include:
arugula
broccoli raab
mixed baby lettuce & greens
mizuna
radishes
swiss chard
tatsoi
turnips

Be good and eat well,
Ben & Patricia

Peas and Carrots, ready for lift-off!

Hello all,

We planted the first round of peas and carrots yesterday! What a joy it was! The sun was out, the wind blowing and the soil was dry enough to plant! I got to use a Planet Jr. seeder to plant both peas and carrots...its a seeder that was designed by the 4 Cole brothers from Chatam Co. NC in 1885! The seeder does a great job and is easy to use. Just because something is old doesn't mean its outdated and just because something is new doesn't mean it's any better...I found this little bit of wisdom in a book recently, though I couldn't tell you where. It has the ring of truth in my opinion, especially where sustainable agriculture is concerned. Many old tools, techniques and skills are resurfacing and perhaps never should have been considered outdated. This photo is the Planet Jr. Doesn't look like much but it does the job!

Spring is about to arrive! It is slowly warming up out there and as you can see, we have some croci on the farm! The potatoes are cut into seed pieces with 2 or more eyes per piece and are healing before planting. They will go in the ground this week. Baby onion plants are on their way from Texas and will go in the ground asap. Flowers will follow...

We've been accepted to the Western Wake Farmers Market! We are very excited to become a vendor there and very grateful for the acceptance! In my opinion, the market is the best market in Raleigh because of the group that runs the market and the wonderful job they do. There is good diversity of products and vendors, they often have music, opportunities to learn about food and overall, the market is well-rounded. Check out the WWFM webpage and come to the season opening on Saturday April 3rd!

FYI, Farmer Joel Salatin and local agrarians will headline a panel discussion at a special showing of the independent film Fresh, The Movie, on Tues., March 9, 7-9pm, at Meredith College for the 3rd Annual Film Feastival.


Please consider signing up for Ben's Produce Summer 2010 CSA. A BIG THANK YOU to those of you who have signed up! We still have membership spots open and the deadlines are rolling but we do have limited capacity. Please make your deposits at your convenience and the 2 payments thereafter are due 30 days and 60 days after making your deposit. Please see the brochure for details. Please send us your deposit along with a copy of the brochure (or the CSA Sign Up Form) with your information.

This coming Tuesday, March 2nd, we plan to have produce pickup at our house, 604 Sasser St., between 4:00 to 7:30 pm. The next NCSU delivery will be Wednesday, March 3rd. Remember to have your orders placed by Monday evening.

A few of you occasionally may have trouble placing orders. Please make sure you receive an automated confirmation email a few minutes after you place your order. If you do not receive this email your order was not placed and we will not receive it. Please try again or email us your order to shields.ben@gmail.com or call Ben @ 919-800-8898. Also, we do not accept online payments, e.g. PayPal. We only accept payment of cash or checks at pickup.

Although we are quickly approaching spring, please be aware adverse and/or cold weather may postpone harvest of your produce. In response to this, we may postpone pickups by a day or two. We will provide primary notice of pickup changes via email (especially for those of you who place orders) as well as via blog and online store. Thank you for being flexible with us!

Purchase of vegetables is made through our online store-
www.vendio.com/stores/bensproduce.


Available new vegetables:
SPINACH

Current vegetable availability includes:
baby beets
brussels sprouts
carrots
Chinese cabbage
collards
scallions
lettuce
sweet potatoes
Vitamin Green (a mild Asian leafy green)


Late winter /early spring vegetables will include:
arugula
broccoli raab
mixed baby lettuce & greens
mizuna
radishes
swiss chard
tatsoi
turnips

Spinach and Sweet Potato Salad

I told a few of you I would share this recipe. I found it in the March 2010 issue of Prevention. We haven't had a chance to try this recipe yet, but it sounds really yummy and we're gonna give it a try this weekend.

Here's what it looks like (YUM!)

The recipe calls for bacon, but I think it would be just as good without it, substituting sunflower seeds (or your favorite nutty topping) instead.

Spinach and Sweet Potato Salad (p. 154)

2 lg sweet potatoes (about 1 1/4 lb), peeled and cut into 1" cubes
1/4 c olive oil
1 tsp salt
2 thick slices bacon (2 oz total)
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 sm red onion, halved and thinly sliced
1 Tbsp minced fresh ginger
1 tsp ground cumin
1/3 c orange juice
1 lb fresh spinach leaves (or you could use our baby tat soi)

1. HEAT oven to 400F. Put sweet potatoes on backing sheet, drizzle with 2 tablespoons of the oil, sprinkle with 2/4 teaspoon of the salt, and toss to coat. Roast, turning occasionally, until crisp and brown outside and just tender inside, about 30 minutes. Remove from oven but leave on pan until ready to use.
2. COOK bacon in skillet over medium heat while potatoes raost, turning once or twice, until crisp. Drain on paper towels and pour off fat, leave any darkened bits in pan. Chop bacon. Put pan back over medium heat and add remaining 2 tablespoon oil. When hot, add bell pepper, onion, ginger, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Cook, stirring once or twice, until no longer raw. Stir in cumin and bacon. Stir in organge juice and turn off heat.
3. PUT spinach in large bowl. Add sweet potatoes, warm dressing, and freshly ground black pepper to taste and toss to combine. Taste and add salt if needed.